Aside from the business issues which we have all come to expect in 2009, we all need to be aware of price increases with raw materials.

With base material prices rising for Aluminium, Gold, Copper, Palladium, Lead, Nickel and Oil (including many others), there has been an overall increase in the cost of Capacitors, Connectors, Resistors, Boards and Inductors.

We expect this trend to continue.

Aside from the UK, this has implications for the far east where falling volumes are already affecting slim margins.

The rise in raw material prices might further exacerbate the issues around component recycling and failure rates.